Whenever any of the cousins walked into my grandmother’s house with take-away food, she’d turn her nose up at them with a suspicious stare and ask ‘where did you buy that from?’ Regardless of the answer or excuse provided she would look distinctly unimpressed. Perhaps she had a right to be cynical, given recent revelations surrounding food retailers in supposed ‘upper end of the scale’ suburbs. And furthermore, it was somewhat disrespectful to walk into an abode that produced brilliant home-made cuisine at all times of the day proffering some cheap pizza soaked in oil or a pathetic excuse for a burger from MacDonalds.
Which begs the question: why is it that when people have great things at home they feel like they have to replace them with half-baked things from outside? And spend stupid money to boot? This happens all the time in football, where good home-grown or domestic players are replaced by foreign misfits for no apparent reason. But should a league so easily forego its talented domestic players? It’s not just a good player that’s being lost, but all his loyalty and dedication to a club that’s worked hard to produce him. Just look at Steven Gerrard at Liverpool. Would Kopites rather have a multi-zillion pound Brazilian instead with twice his dribbling skills but half his attitude?
Of course not, it’s the spirit that makes a house a home, not the Olympic sized swimming pool or the big Merc parked outside. Just ask Steve Gibson, chairman of Middlesborough. The poor sod spent many fortunes on foreign mercenaries only to see his club relegated twice. And for what? One Worthington cup. Back in the days of the crazy gang, Wimbledon FC won a bleeding FA Cup against the indomitable Liverpool FC of old without a scintilla of Gibson’s major outlay. And it was a famous victory forged of rock-hard team spirit, not oodles of cash. You can’t buy spirit, and maybe that’s why Chelsea haven’t yet won the Champions League.
This might be sounding overly romantic, but it is nonetheless worth asking: why have local players become such a rarity at top level club sides? Back in the day, it was the rare overseas player that caused a stir among a club’s fans, especially if they were good (which meant they were not shipped back home the following season instead of earning money on the bench like they do nowadays), but these days domestic leagues (especially the English Premiership) are so flooded with a glut of (often average) foreign stars that it’s now the home-grown player that gets the pulses racing: like Stevie G did last week against Napoli.
These days it’s the domestic player who is the exotic prospect that captures the fan’s imagination, be it Ignazio Abate scything down Cristiano Ronaldo for AC Milan, Del Piero still outwitting Milan sides for Old Lady Juve, or young guns Kelly, Spearing, Shelvey or Eccleston featuring in famous wins for Liverpool against the likes of Napoli and Chelsea. In fact the trend seems to be slowly changing for the better, with clubs like Liverpool and Juventus showing greater faith in homegrown youth. Only last week Juve manager Del Neri expressed his full confidence in youngsters Giandonato, Buchel, Liverio and Giannetti whom he threw on against Salzburg in the Europa Cup. Indeed recent selections at Turin and Merseyside (Everton are one of few English clubs to have a large scouting network at clubs in England) are flying in the face of the seemingly endless invasion of foreign players that is causing good (if not better) domestic players to seek to thrive elsewhere. But if it ain’t broke, why fix it?
Besides, home-made players (with the possible exception of Mario Balotelli at Inter) are generally good for their club and the game in general. Roy Hodgson recently spoke of Gerrard and Carragher’s unquestioned readiness to represent their club on the field of play. Which is not to mention the phenomenal success of Barca’s home brew in the form of Xavi, Iniesta et al and the success that these same players have brought about for Spain on the international stage. These types of players are usually enduring role-models who won’t leave the club unless they are sold, players that young fans can look up to, like the former Paolo Maldini at AC Milan or Scholes and Giggs who embody Manchester United (not to mention the friend of all submissive Maltese editors, Gary Neville). And can Torres’s brace against Chelsea feel as good to local Liverpudlians as Gerrard’s goals did against Napoli? It’s a long shot.
Today, when a player is homegrown, he causes far more excitement when he stars in the starting lineup where before the same furore was created by a foreign star. It’s a funny and ironic state of affairs but one which will hopefully begin to mark a turnaround in a hopelessly lopsided modern game that always seems to favour style over substance. I mean surely the whole of West London can produce more than one player to feature in the Chelsea starting lineup? And how is it that academies like that at Everton or West Ham (following in the footsteps of Leeds Utd) can produce such a healthy supply line of first team talent whereas other clubs only seek to buy foreigners on the cheap?
And even if the talent is not available at home, shouldn’t the national league create it by developing and fostering it? It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be, right? After the world cup, there were some interesting debates floating around about what constitutes a successful domestic league. Is it one like the Premier league that usually competes well in Europe but produces questionable and meagre talent for the English national team? Or is it a league like the Bundesliga which although not producing as many successful clubs in Europe has bred a phenomenal young national side who all of whom plied their trade in their domestic league (before Real Madrid swooped for two of them)? Which is not to mention the success of the Spanish national team, who hardly fielded any foreign based players at all when clinching the Euro and the world cup.
Recently Australia coach Holger 'Osi' Osieck stated that the A league should be a breeding ground for future Australian internationals since there is no substitute for first team football, wherever it is played. What was more interesting was hearing his talk of there being a ‘responsibility’ to help local players improve. Which in turn would imply that if players are leaving their country, then someone is not doing a good job back home or that someone abroad is offering them big carrots because they cannot do a good job of meeting their own responsibilities in their own country. Ok, it might be a case of easy brownie points for Mr Kraut, a way for Osi to outshine his predecessor Grim Pim who always dissed the A-league. At the end of the day actions will speak louder than words but given recent performances by his country's national team it's not improbable that Osi will start giving home based Aussies their break on the international scene. Ideally this attitude would be complemented by allowing a smaller number of foreigners in domestic leagues, who should only be introduced to spur a domestic tournament along qualitatively, not drown out the local talent which has the potential to shine on a bigger stage.
Recently there were sniggers heard all round when it was touted that Wayne Rooney might join Perth Glory in the A-League. But if an influx of foreign players like Rooney are going to make it impossible for local Aussies to get a game, then who on earth wants him here anyway? Together with all the petty scandals that will follow him around like a bad smell? If control of the foreign contingent in the A-League means that Australia’s domestic league can produce a competitive national team, akin to the clinical German squad produced by the Bundesliga or the successful Spanish side forged in La Liga, then foreign players and their agents can infest the domestic leagues of other ‘less responsible’ countries, to the detriment of their national sides.
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